DOJ: Philly Gun Buyback Program Misused over $450,000

DOJ: Philly Gun Buyback Program Misused over $450,000

The Department of Justice (DOJ) says a Philadelphia gun buyback program misused more than $450,000 provided for the program. The buyback program was administered by the Police Safety Net (PSN).

According to NBC Philadelphia, the DOJ’s inspector general found that “62 percent” of the total grant money allotted to the PSN was used for “unallowable, unsupported, and/or unreasonable” expenses. 

For example, PSN’s executive director Raymond Jones used some of the money to give “himself an $85,065 pay increase” over a period of two years. This brought his annual pay to $287,565. 

Moreover, PSN spent “$29,750 in rent on a building that was used once a month” and did not properly account for utility bills totaling $13,947.

PSN was supposed to use the money to buy gift cards to be given to citizens who brought guns into the buyback program. However, the DOJ also discovered there were 280 gift cards which had not been traded for a firearm yet could not be accounted for. 

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins.

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